#kemp jernigan

[lesser-known-composers]

Louis Spohr (1784-1859) - Nonet for strings & winds

Allegro, Scherzo Allegro, Adagio, Finale; Vivace

performed by Mistral Music : Julie Scolnik, artistic director

Qing Hou, violin; Lawrence Neuman, viola Sasha Scolnik-Brower, cello; Donald Palma, bass Julie Scolnik, flute; Kemp Jernigan, oboe; Todd Palmer, clarinet Rachel Childers, horn; Sam Childers, bassoon

[nofatclips]

Cistern by Jherek Bischoff from the album Cistern - Video directed by Jim Batt [Part 1: Automatism]

[no-mire-lo-sabio-del-presente]

Super excited by the amount of interest we've had so far for this summer's Divergent Studio! It's going to be an excellent year — with guest composers Mark Applebaum, Raven Chacon, and Alex Temple; two full weeks of performances, lectures, and collaborations; and lots of opportunity for making connections with your musical counterparts. Applications are open for one more week (due 3/15), so make sure to get yours in ASAP! Link in bio and here: https://longy.edu/study/longys-divergent-studio/ PERFORMANCE FACULTY Donald Berman, piano (Longy Faculty) loadbang: Jeffrey Gavett, baritone Andy Kozar, trumpet (Longy Faculty) William Lang, trombone (Longy Faculty) Adrian Sandi, clarinet, bass clarinet COMPOSITION FACULTY Alexandra du Bois (Longy Faculty) Katherine Pukinskis (Longy Faculty) Matthew Evan Taylor (Longy Faculty) Pablo Santiago Chin (Longy Faculty) John Morrison (Longy Faculty) Evan Johnson GUEST COMPOSITION FACULTY Mark Applebaum Raven Chacon Alex Temple GUEST PERFORMERS Transient Canvas: Matt Sharrock, marimba Amy Advocat, bass clarinet Divergent Trio: Corrine Byrne, soprano (Longy Faculty) Sarah Darling, viola (Longy Faculty) Donald Berman, piano (Longy Faculty) Divergent Quintet: Rachael Elliott, bassoon (Longy Faculty) Kemp Jernigan, oboe (Longy Faculty) Sooyun Kim, flute (Longy Faculty) Rane Moore, clarinet (Longy Faculty) Geoffrey Landman, saxophone (Longy Faculty) #loadbangensemble #longy #divergentstudio (at Longy School of Music of Bard College) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca2hn3rLuKG9n2p7G6kk2i17HCT5BaOt1V5RrY0/?utm_medium=tumblr

[gussolomonsjrtest]

MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN

Robert Fairchild as The Monster in MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN

It’s instructive to know that this extrapolation of the Frankenstein tale was written by Eve Wolf, a pianist, who founded the Ensemble for the Romantic Century (ERC). In “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,” Wolf has collected snippets of letters, poems, and history to fashion a script, but the language is stilted and has no emotional resonance. The production at the Pershing Square Signature Center, December 21 – January 6, was born of Wolf’s endeavor to create “an engaging an innovative approach to chamber music concerts.” Notwithstanding its expressive flatness, the production values are indeed Broadway worthy.

Fairchild with his shadow in Act I

Vanessa James’s set has a large frame center stage, a tall window/armoire on stage right, a grand piano at stage left with a small table and stool in front and a large tree behind it. The women’s period dresses are sumptuous, especially those for the singer, and the men’s capes, waistcoats, and riding boots are appropriately gallant. The monster wears flesh colored tights and leotard in Act I and all black in Act II. Beverly Emmons’s lighting creates properly Gothic moods of melancholy mystery, playing deftly with shadows. And David Bengali’s superb projections add both specificity of place and dynamic accents – lightning, rain and snow storms, roiling waters, and a menacing, black and white forest of gnarled trees.

Mezzo-Soprano Krysty Swann cradling Fairchild 

Director Donald T. Sanders, ERC’s Director of Theatrical Production, has assembled three flawless instrumentalists: oboist Kemp Jernigan, pianist Steven Lin – a standout – and organ and harpsichordist, Parker Ramsay; mezzo-soprano Krysty Swann’s voice is strong and clear, and musical selections that intersperse and accompany the action by Franz Liszt, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Franz Schubert, and the familiar Bach/Busoni “Chaconne from the Partita for Violin Solo No. 2” comprise a satisfying chamber concert, which does fulfill the mission of the ERC.  

Rocco Sisto as William Godwin 

With the exception of Rocco Sisto – whose delivery resonates gravitas as the blind DeLacey and William Godwin – the actors are unconvincing. Mia Vallet as Mary Shelley/Agatha can conjure up hysterical weeping at the drop of a hat but has slouching posture and a distracting lisp; Paul Wesley as Percy Shelley/Victor Frankenstein/Felix in only his second NYC stage role comes across as juvenile archetype, not authoritative as the Dr. F, the creator of the Monster, or as Percy Shelley, even though the poet did drown at age 30.

Paul Wesley as Percy Shelley

As The Monster, former principal of New York City Ballet and star of Broadway’s “An American in Paris,” Robert Fairchild is too boyishly handsome to be genuinely frightening or despise-able in his search for love. In this, his choreographic debut, Fairchild has given his character a spastic, lumbering gait and physical menace, but in his solos, the steps are balletic, made superficially ungainly. As an actor, however, even given Wolf’s declamatory speeches that he has to mouth, he shows genuine emotional potential and has a beautiful speaking voice.

Mia Vallet as Mary Shelley

We learn about Mary Shelley’s bad luck with miscarrying babies, and details of her faithless marriage. But the script seems to lose focus in pursuit of more information than concentrate on the protagonist’s plight. Three young children, Shiv Ajay, Peyton Lusk, and Avey Noble, lay flowers to inject poignancy into the sorrow of Mrs. Shelley’s losses and (spoiler!) the tragedy of the accidental murder by the Monster in Act I.

Fairchild as The Monster in Act II

Fairchild fans will enjoy watching their ballet prince stretching out of his kinetic comfort zone into the character realm of the grotesque. In a chamber music venue, this production would seem lavish and perhaps innovative, but in an off-Broadway theater, where expectations are different, the intellectual and informational content outweigh the emotional expression, making it feel more like elaborate lecture-demonstration than compelling drama with altogether wonderful classical music.

Photos by Shirin Tinati

Gus Solomons jr, © 2017